A Wellington Kind of Day

We had a Wellington day today.

First, lunch at Wellingtons Pub in Farnham. The special of the day - the same for every Sunday at most pubs - was Roast & Veg. Roast being your choice of Beef, Lamb, Chicken, or Pork. I didn't see the prices, but they must have been good. The place was filled with senior citizens.

Then, we had a nice walk and outing at Farnham Park where I placed a letterbox. No Wellington reference here. It was just close to the pub.


Finally, we headed over to Wellington Statue for a look. How could we have a Wellie boot for our sig stamp and not visit Wellingtons statue?! It was much bigger than we expected. I was able to log it as a Waymark find, then I scooted off to find the multi-cache 'Wellington's Booty' geocache. Success! We ended up leaving a Wellie Boot TB we had brought from Texas. Yeah!

So you can see what I mean by a Wellington Day!

Getting a Pathtag

At the last geocache event I was at (in Houston), I was lucky enough to receive some pathtags. If you've never heard of these, they are a small round trading item. Sort of like exchanging signature stamps in letterboxing. Although these will cost you to get some - but they are cheaper than getting your own coin minted.

Anyway, these pathtags are trackable. So for each one you receive, you can log-in and add it to your collection. This works for your own pathtags that you give out too.

It took me a while to decide to get one. I really didn't think I would cross paths with tahat many people. But then I got drawn into all of the lovely designs on pathpags already created. Oooohhh. Like looking in a candy store. You just want one. So. . .I am now in the process of getting one ordered. They say it takes 6-8wks from art approval. Boo. That means nearly a Christmas arrival. (Hey, that would be a great idea - make a special Christmas version pathtag!)

My dilemma is in whether I want to exchange tags only with those people I meet face to face, or with anyone anywhere through the trading community. Hmmm? Each has a plus and a negative.

What do you think? I haven't decided yet.

Didn't We Leave These Behind in Texas?!

Oh no! They're following us!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7010250.stm

Surrey Celebrities

In the recent issue of local magazine 'Surrey Life', they had an interesting article on the top 50 celebrities who live in the county of Surrey. Now, of course, Surrey lies just next to London, so it is obviously going to be home to the various entertainers and sports figures who need to get into London on a regular basis. Regardless, it was fun to see who lives here. I eliminated a lot of people who only UKers would know, i.e. local broadcasters and such. But here's who you might know:

-Sir Michael Caine (Leatherhead)
-Eric Clapton (Surrey Hills)
-Dame Judi Dench (Outwood)
-Tom Felton aka Draco Malfoy (Leatherhead)
-Jerry Hall (Richmond)
-Mick Hucknall of Simply Red (Walton-on-Thames)
-Sir Mick Jagger (Richmond)
-Penelope Keith (Milford)
-Brian May of Queen (Elmbridge)
-Sir Cliff Richard (Weybridge)
-Ron Wood (Kingston Upon Thames)

Book Journal

It's a rainy morning along the Surrey/Hants border today, though it looks to clear up by noon. Meanwhile, I've added a new little section to the blog. Book Journal. Here I will keep a running list of books we've read (Mrs. TeamKing actually). Some of these will be new books and some will be books of various mystery series I'm reading which may not be recognizable to many. Not a lot of non-fiction will be listed. The books may also be ebooks or audio as well. I don't think I'll list that as it doesn't matter, but if you enjoy these forms of reading, let me know. There also won't be any sort of review unless the book was so outstanding I can't help but recommend it.

I'd love to hear your feedback if you see a book listed you read. I enjoy getting recommendations - especially on series books - and just hearing your opinion if you liked or disliked something I've listed.

For the first book on list 'Shakespeare' by Bill Bryson, I do have to add that Bryson is a wonderfully entertaining writer. (If you've never read any of his books, I absolutely recommend them. His humor just cracks me up.)

Some interesting notes from the book. . .
Shakespeare coined/made the first recorded use of 2035 words. Can you imagine?! To create a word that all of the English-speaking world would accept and use, just one, would be incredible for anybody. But to create the quantity he did, wow.

Also, Shakespeare had 2 daughters with Anne Hathaway. But his daughters children all died without children so there lies the end of his line.

Finally, I love how Bryson tackles the nay-sayers who are convinced that William Shakespeare did not write any of his works. The level of secrecy and work required to pull off such a hoax that was so convincing that nearly everyone in that time and for hundreds of years afterward had no doubt stands as what would have to be one of the biggest hoaxes ever. And for what gain?

Yeah, he wrote them.

Meeting the Moor Tor-ists at Dartmoor

I took a day trip to Dartmoor today to meet the Moor Tor-ists from the US. What a wonderful group! We spent the day walking out to Ducks Pool with our local 'tour guides', Spannerman and his wife. We nominated Butterfly to be the first to open up the box. Then when we came back we went into Princetown to re-group with everyone. Thanks Mark Pepe for inviting me!

A wonderful day, but I won't be making that a one day trip again. Nearly 4hrs in the car each way and over 7.5 miles logged walking! Whew.

The Hedgehogs of Surrey

Had a great lead-in for this new series today. . .I actually got to pet a hedgehog! Simon Cowell of Wildlife Aid (and the 11yr TV series 'Wildlife SOS') was at the kids school today as they were picked as the schools charity for the year. He brought along a little friend for everyone to meet and I got to talk to Simon and pet the hedgie.

This brings me to introduce a new letterbox series ' The Hedgehogs of Surrey'. I have a handful of hedgehog stamps carved by US letterboxing friends. Each has been given a name, and I will be hiding them around Surrey. Collect them all! Since I want to spread them out across the county, it will take some time to place every one. So stay tuned if you're keen to get them!

Oh, and for the record, hedgehogs are quite small - can fit in your 2 hands together. Their spines aren't too spikey actually. They feel more like a coarse scrub brush. Interestingly, in relation to my last post, hedgehogs can get FMD too! Look at this notice from Wildlife Aid's website:

"Following a further local outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, we must comply with the following DEFRA advice:

With immediate effect and until further notice Wildlife Aid will be unable to take in either hedgehogs or deer. Please do not attempt to bring either species to the hospital but call for advice instead.

We can still attend call-outs for both hedgehogs and deer within the exclusion zone, but as certain restrictions are in place concerning the treatment and movement of these animals we will deal with requests on a case-by case basis. Again please call for advice.

We suggest if you need help with injured deer or hedgehog that you call Defra on 08459 335577. We apologise for this inconvenience but hope you understand the situation."

So, in support of the cute little hedgehogs who used to only have to be concerned with badgers getting them, and now are getting destroyed by man, look for the upcoming Surrey Hedgehog series.

Want to HEAR a hedgehog? Go here: http://gardensafari.net/english/hedgehogs.htm